In this new dynamic, Sam will be the public-facing Captain America: The one people think of as holding that title. Even though he's been in this position before, Onyebuchi points out there's still a lot of unexplored territory.
"We have basically only touched the surface of his interaction with the Marvel Universe," says Onyebuchi. "There are so many characters that have yet to interact with Sam as Captain America, dynamics we haven't yet seen. It feels like the world is my oyster. It's been really cool exploring that with Sam, but also with Joaquín Torres, who is the Falcon in this book."
At a genre level, Captain America: Symbol of Truth will invoke globe-trotting spy thrillers. The "truth" in the title resonates with Sam's efforts to untangle some aspects of America's shady foreign policy.
"We've seen Sam Wilson deal with the legacy of Captain America and race in very inward terms with regards to America: What does it mean for America to accept a Black Captain America?" Onyebuchi says. "One of the things I'm teasing in my book is, what does it mean for the rest of the world to accept a Black Captain America? That's another part of the equation. If Captain America is in many ways a mimesis of America, with all the good and bad pathologies, what does that mean for the way in which America interacts with the rest of the world?"
Onyebuchi continues, "I'm a huge fan of action thrillers that involve foreign locals and all of that stuff. One of the things that Sam has to do is he has to get to the bottom of a conspiracy. He has to figure out what the truth of the matter is, he has to figure out what's really going on. When so much of American foreign policy historically has been founded on operating in the shadows, manipulating federal employees or members of another government into enacting regime change for the benefit of various corporate interests, what is it going to look like when Sam runs up against the people who would wish to manipulate him for their own ends in terms of furthering 'America's interests' abroad? What does it mean to be the 'Symbol of Truth' in that context?"
In the past, Steve has occasionally gotten so fed up with the American government that he has resigned his position as Captain America in protest of his country's actions. But as a Black social worker from Harlem, Sam is coming into the office already well aware of America's shortcomings.
"Steve went through a whole process during Nixon and Reagan where he kind of learned how the sausage was made," Lanzing says. "Sam's gonna be coming into that forewarned and forearmed. I'm amazed by the idea that he really can't put down the shield the way that Steve could. It's really important that he not. So then, what does it mean for him to stand there with that and be like, 'okay, I'm gonna hold the shield, but I'm also gonna deal with this?'"